Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 1. – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1960)
Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Bóna István: The Early Bronze Age Urn Cementery at Kulcs and the Kulcs group of the Nagyrév culture. I, 1960. p. 7–15.
и the graves discovered in an unworkmanlike manner, so they may be left out of consideration. As a result the folk of the Kulcs cemetery lived in the period of the clan society, the primitive community. At Kulcs we find only one grave with richer grave-goods than the average, the urn hole 37 with numerous jugs. The graves 814 and 879 at Dunapentele are similar ones. Probably these were the restingplaces of the chiefs of the clan or the joint family. They were buried in the row of the clan's cemetery. The increased number and richness of the vases in their graves are the proofs rather of the esteem enjoyed by the chosen leader than of his power or wealth. The significance of the triple grave 41 a — с is just as ambiguous as that of the contemporary double or triple burials in prehistory. Here the situation is rendered more difficult by the fact that only the smallest urn a contained ashes, while the other two urns of larger size and regular grave-goods were empty. Similar phenomena as those enumerated above are found in the Nagyrév cemeteries of the Kulcs type at Dunapentele. 3. The finds of the group The material is extremely scanty, consisting of a few types. Pottery is roughly wrought, badly levigated and fired, blotched in colour. Only a few principal types deserve mention. The urns have the shape of a pot or store jar with a small swollen rim, sometimes slit. Their surface is smooth, pock-marked or scratched in a dense broom-like manner, but always uniform. Rarely do we find a wart handle on, them. Some urns are made of better material, they have round paunches, arched necks and ribbon handles. Such are the urn 41 a of Kulcs (Pl. V, 3), the urn D. 4 of Dunapentele (PI. VIII, 16), the urn 473 of Dunapentele and one of the Bölcske urns (PI. X. 13). The former three are decorated. The bowls have truncated cone-shaped inferior parts, straight or slightly arched necks and swelling annular rims. The jutting out of their paunch is connected with the rim by 1—3 ribbon handles. The small jugs are varieties of the characteristic Nagyrév form, having globular bulges and arched necks. In contrary to the customary Nagyrév jugs, the joints of their necks and paunches are but rarely emphasized. Their distinctive feature is the pearshaped body and the handle, setting out from the rim. Large jugs are rare, it is by them, howerer, that our group is linked to the mother culture most of all. They are presenting two variations. One is the customary Nagyrév jug with a smooth arched side, hav13 CL. F. A. SCHAEFFER, Stratigraphie Comparée et Chronologie de l'Asie Occidentale (London 1948), Fig. 68, 32; Fig. 104, 19; Fig. 105, 18. ia J. BANNER, A Marosvidék bronzkori zsugorított temetkezéseinek sírmellékletei. (Beigaben der bronzezeitlichen Hockergräber aus der Maros-Gegend. Szeged 1932.) Fl. XI. ing a ribbon handle situated on the neck below th<3 rim and above the paunch. The other has a similar shape but a wider mouth, with a small ear each at the joint of their neck and bulge. Cups, namely pedestalled cups in most cases, are very typical of this group. Their shape follows the one- or two-handled bowls with arched necks. They stand on a small pedestal, resembling a solid sigil or having a widening holow bottom. The jars are simple forms with or without handles. Kulcs pottery is rarely decorated. Ornament is made up of simple incised lines or punched dots. The majority has a dividing pattern, consisting of lines branching off at right angles from 1—3 lines drawn horizontally on the bulge of the vase. The meanderlike pattern of the jug from grave 30 at Kulcs (Pl. Ill, 10) and one of the Dunapentele jugs (PI. IX, 2) are exceptional. Several Dunapentele vases, among them the urn D. 4 present a zigzag ornament inscribed between two lines. The interesting decorations scratched on the bottoms of the cups, i. e. crosses or double V-motives oppositely situated, are possibly potters' signatures or property marks. The few data concerning the costume, the bronze jewels and pearls are interesting for the reason that they are the first known specimens ot the Nagyrév culture, presented at this occasion. They are worth attention also because the precedents of numerous Middle Bronze Age jewel shapes are appearing among them for the first time. The racket pin is the ancestor of numerous Middle Bronze Age varieties, it is unparalleled in shape and workmanship so far, modelled after Western Asian patterns 12 immediately. It is here that the larger or smaller bronze lockrings with the ends bent together are occurring in our area for the first time. Their shape is related to the golden lock-rings of Öbéba and Pitvaros. 13 The bronze spiral tube pearls are also making their first appearance in this country, beside the cemeteries belonging to phases Szőreg 1—2 (Szőreg, Ószentiván, Deszk, cementeries A and F). u The double spiral tube pearls seem to be Nagyrév or Kulcs specialities at present. They are unknown so far, except at Kisapostag and grave D. 5 at Dunapentele. Early Bronze Age analogies of the small-sized oblong lamellae with twisted ends of grave D. 5 are krown only from Pitvaros. 1 " The bronze buttons of the same are the first occurrences more to the north than phases Szőreg 1—2 where they appear. 18 The bone pins found in the Kulcs type sepulchral urns of Dunapentele and Kisapostag are identical to those known from the graves of the Óbéba-Pitvaros group and the early Szőreg ones. 17 But we meet them 671. In the unpublished material there are even nearer relatives from gold. 14 Ibid. PI. X, type 30. 15 Ibid. PI. X, type 29. '" Ibid. PI. X type 35. 17 Ibid. PI. X, 51.
